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2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

, A. s. WOODWARD. APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ASBESTOS FIBER.

Patented Jan. 14', 1896.

FTC-:2.

WITNES if AN nRzW 8.6RANAM. PHUTDUTPSQWASNINBTUMHC 2 She-ets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

A. s. WOODWARD. APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ASBESTOS FIBER. No. 553,091.

- Patented Jan. 14, 1896.

INVENTEI UNITED STATES I PATENT uric,

ALONZO S. WOODYVARD, OF PEPPERELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY A. PARKER, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR REDUCING ASBESTOS FlBER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,091, dated January 14, 1896. Ap lication fil d February 4,1893. Serial No. 460,983. (llo modeli) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALONZO S. WOODWARD, of East Pepperell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Reducing Asbestos Fiber, of which the following is specification.

This invention has for its object to provide improvements whereby masses of asbestos may be converted into fiber without pulverizing the fiber and breaking it into undesirably short pieces.

Heretofore it has been customary, in converting masses of asbestos into fiber, to subject the masses to the action of crushing rollers, the result being that a very large percentage of the whole material is reduced practically to powder, the percentage of fiber of desirable length for the production of asbestos cloth and other articles requiring a fiber of considerable length being Very small.

mass of asbestos, or the greater part thereof,

view of my improved apparatus, the cover of I the casing which contains the revolving beaters being removed to show the interior of the casing and the boaters. Fig. 4: represents a section on line i 4, Fig. 1.

The same letters and numerals of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents a casing or receptacle which is provided in its top with the hopper a for the reception of the pieces of asbestos to be treated, and is preferably provided with a tapering bottom portion a which receives the unreduced pieces of asbestos that pass through the heaters.

b I) represent two vertical shafts which are provided within the casing to with pivoted yielding arms or heaters c, which are adapted to be revolved horizontally within the casing by the rotation of the said shafts.

The means for pivotally connecting the arms with the shafts maybe variously modified Without departing from the spirit of my invention. I prefer the means shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the same consisting of flanges or collars d (Z affiXed rigidly to the shafts within the casing, and vertical pivoted rods c passing through said flanges and secured thereto by nuts e, the heaters 0 being mounted to turn freely upon said pivoted rods and separated from each other by washers f f strung upon the pivoted rods between the boaters, each beater being preferably a piece of metal perforated at its inner end to receive one of the pivoted rods, and adapted to swing freely in a horizontal plane upon said rod. The

.beaters therefore are caused by centrifugal force to radiate from the shafts b when the shafts are rotated, each beater being adapted to strike a yielding blow on a piece of ashestos dropped into the casing. The washers f and the heaters are readily removable from the pivoted rods, so that the heaters may be readily adjusted vertically and placed at any desired distance apart, each rod '6' being adapted to hold a plurality of boaters, as shown in Fig. 2. I prefer to arrange the heaters on one shaft, so that they will alternate with those on the other shaft; also I prefer to arrange the heaters connected with each shaft in such manner that the heaters on one rod will alternate with those on the next rod on the same shaft, as shown at the right in Fig. 2. e

The casing a is provided with inwardlyprojecting hollow abutments a a the outer sides of which are curved and constitute continuations of the curved inner walls of the casing, said walls being curved to conform to the rods of the beaters, as shown in Fig. 3. Each of the abutments is open at its lower end, as shown in Fig. 4:, and closed at its upper end. Each abutment is provided with a side 2 which is substantially concentrio with one of the shafts b, and a side which is eccentric to the other shaft 1), as shown in Fig. 3. This arrangement locates the apex 4 of one abutment nearer the shaft at the left-hand end of the casing, and the apex 4 of the other abutment nearer the shaft at the right-hand end of the casing. The object of this arrangement is to enable the pieces of asbestos which are struck by the beatersto be transferred from one beater to the other, in the manner indicated bythe arrows 5 6 in Fig. 3. .A piece of asbestos thrown off tangentially by the beaters on the left-han d shaft at the arrow 5 will strike the eccentric side 3 of one of the abutments and will rebound into the field of the beaters on the other shaft. In like manner a piece of asbestos thrown off by the beaters on the right-hand shaftlat the arrow 6 will strike the eccentric side 8 of the other abutment and in rebounding will be thrown into the field of the beaters on the left-hand shaft. The pieces of asbestos will therefore be subjected to more frequent blows and will be more rapidly reduced than would be the case if each piece remained in the field of the beaters of one shaft only.

i represents an exhaust-fan, which is connected by flues 'i i with the hollow abutments a a hen the fan is in operation it creates a draft through the said fiues in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2, 3, and 4:, so that the fibers formed by the action of the beaters are carried away through said flues as fast as they are separated from the masses or pieces of asbestos. It will be seen, therefore, that the fibers are removed from the action of the beaters as fast as they are detached, so that the original length of the fibers is preserved, their being no liability of the breaking up of the fibers by the repeated contact with the beaters which detach them from the masses of asbestos.

The unreduced pieces of asbestos that fall below the beaters enter the tapering bottom portion (0 and may be removed therefrom for subsequent treatment in any suitable way. I prefer to again pass the unreduced pieces that accumulate in the bottom portion a through the casing, and to repeat the operation until the pieces are entirely reduced.

The shafts b are rotated in the direction indicated by'the arrows 7 Sin Fig. 3. Power may be applied to said shafts by means of belts running on pulleys k 7c on said shafts or in any other suitable way.

It will be seen that the abutments a constitute hoods which prevent the unreduced material thrown about by the action of the beaters from entering the fines or passages L 2' said hoods extending below the beaters, and being open only at their lower ends or at points below the beaters, as shown in Fig. 1, so that all pieces that are too heavy to be carried by the air-currents will fall to the bottom of the casing, while the fibers will pass, without reduction of their original "length, into and through the hoods or abut ments a and. out of the machine.

It is obvious that a single shaft, with a set of beaters thereomand a single hood communicating with the casing below the beaters, and communicating also with the air-exhausting apparatus, would embody the essential features of my invention. Hence I do not limit myself to the employment of a plurality of shafts or to the employment of a plurality of abutments or hoods a y The form of the casing and the form and arrangement of the beaters may be variously modified without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim- 1. An organized apparatus for reducing asbestos to a fibrous condition, the same comprising a receptacle having a receiving open ing or inlet at its top and an outlet at its bottom, said inlet, receptacle, and outletconstituting a vertical conduit through which masses of asbestos may pass by gravitation. yielding beaters in the receptacle, means for revolving said beaters to cause them to yield ingly strike masses of asbestos passing through the casing, an outlet fine or passage extending laterally from said casing between the inlet and outlet, and air-exhausting apparatus communicating with said flue whereby the fibers detached by the yielding blows of the beaters are removed without reduction of their original length, and means for preventing the entrance of the unreduced material into the outlet flue.

2. In an organized apparatus for reducing asbestos to a fibrous condition, the combination of a casing, yielding beaters therein, a hood or hollow abutment in the casing coinmunicating with the interior of the casing at a point below the beaters, an outlet flue or passage communicating with the interior of said hood, and an air-exhausting apparatus communicating with the hood, as set forth.

3. In an organized apparatus for reducing asbestos to a fibrous condition, the combination of a casing; two shafts therein, each provided with pivoted yielding beaters within the casing; hollow hoods or abutments at the sides of the casing, projecting partlybetween the heaters of one shaft and those of the other, said hoods having eccentric sides arranged as shown, whereby the pieces of as testes thrown by one set of beateis are caused name to this specification, in the presence of to enter the field 0f the other set of heaters; two subscribing Witnesses, this 26th day of outlet passages communicating with the said January, A. D. 1893.

hoods or abutments; and an air-exhausting ALONZO S. WOODVVARD. 5 apparatus communicating- With said passages; Witnesses:

as set forth. GEORGE G. TARBELL,

In testimony whereof I have signed my W. D. RYDER. 

